NICE, France (AP) -- Midway between Winter Olympics, Michelle Kwan and Alexei Yagudin are establishing a nice pattern.

For Kwan it is every other year a world title. For Yagudin every year a world title.That seems good for both leading up to 2002.

Kwan has won in 1996, 1998 and now 2000. Yagudin's series is 1998, 1999 and 2000.

Following a hectic beginning that had crashes and slashes in the pairs at the World Figure Skating Championships, the women's free skate Saturday was simply about the skating.

In a difficult transitional year, Kwan won what she says is the most satisfying of her three titles. She admitted having trouble adjusting to college and not skating as much as she would have liked in the fall.

She buckled down over the winter and focused on adding tougher jumps. Kwan's short and long programs were the most technically difficult of her career -- and she needed nothing less to vault from third place in the short program to win the title.

"I never felt like that! I never felt as fast," Kwan said coming off the ice.

Kwan admitted that besides experiencing trouble balancing skating with college, she had difficulty renewing her motivation. Still just 19, she's already skated in seven worlds.

By 2002, if all goes right, it will be up to eight heading into the Olympics in Salt Lake City.

By that time, triple-triples -- perhaps two sets of them -- will be needed in the women's program. Kwan put one in this year and there is already talk of another by next year.

Irina Slutskaya, whom Kwan beat for this year's title, has already been there. Although she didn't do them in the women's free skate as promised, she did two of them at the Grand Prix final to beat Kwan.

And after coming in a disappointing second in Nice, Slutskaya still seeks her first world championship. Look what happened when she missed making the Russian team last year. She merely lost some weight, added triple-triples, regained her European title and her second-place ranking in the world.

Yagudin has known nothing but top rankings since the 1998 Olympics, winning every world title.

The key is staying one step ahead of a strong field.

Last year, when others were flirting with the quad, he was the most consistent skater and won his second world championship in Helsinki.

Now others are hitting the quad more regularly, so what does Yagudin do to challenge that? He puts together a program with two quads.

There were 20 quads in all by nine men. American Tim Goebel did four, as did Yagudin, but placed 11th because his other jumps were hampered by a sore muscle.

Two-time U.S. champion Michael Weiss used a quad to come in third behind Yagudin and Elvis Stojko of Canada, also a three-time world champ.

Yagudin continually ups the ante when challenged. This year, he lost his European title to Yevgeny Plushchenko. But at worlds, Yagudin was wearing the gold medal and Plushchenko didn't have any medal, due to a critical breakdown in the free skate, when he failed on three quads.

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The championships were marked by the domination of the Russians, although they failed to sweep all four titles, something they did last year -- the first country to take all four disciplines.

The ice dance crown escaped them, although they can claim a part of it with Moscow-born Marina Anissina teaming with Gwendal Peizerat representing France. They earned the only 6.0s of the competition for their free dance before a boisterous crowd.

The pairs, marked by all kinds of dramatics, went to Russia's Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov. They took over when teammates Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze withdrew because she had failed a drug test for a stimulant in a medication for bronchitis.

French pairs skater Stephane Bernadis overcame the shock of a razor attack at his hotel by an unknown assailant to team with Sarah Abitbol and win the bronze medal.

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